Saracens beat Gloucester to charge towards top four

Breaking news from the world of sport: Saracens beat Gloucester to charge towards top fourImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Saracens have closed a 12 point gap to fourth place to just three points with two games to goBySophie HurcomBBC Sport EnglandPublished16 May 2026, 20:37 BSTUpdated 29 minutes agoThe PremSaracens (18) 30Tries: Segun 2, Earl, Dan Cons: Burke, Farrell Pens: Burke 2Gloucester (0) 7Tries: Joseph 2 Cons: C. Atkinson 2Saracens continued their surge towards the play-offs with a 30-14 victory over Gloucester to move three points off fourth in the Prem table. The victory was the London club's fourth in a row in the league and means they leapfrog Bristol into fifth and close in on Exeter above, following their defeat by Harlequins earlier in the day, a result which also drops Gloucester to ninth and out of the Champions Cup places for next season as things stand.

Rotimi Segun scored two first-half tries with Fergus Burke kicking eight points to open an 18-0 lead. Ben Earl stretched over early in the second half as Theo Dan secured the crucial bonus point try for the hosts, before Will Joseph pulled back two late tries to ensure the scoreboard was more respectable for Gloucester. It is a remarkable turnaround in form for Mark McCall's side, who looked all but out of contention for the semi-finals after back-to-back defeats by Bath and Northampton in March left them 12 points adrift of the top four.

Match Details

But they bounced back to beat Sale, Leicester, Bristol and now the Cherry and Whites in their past four games and with the Bears and Exeter above both dropping points, they are right in the mix with two rounds to go and also head to Sandy Park to play the Chiefs in the final round. Exeter top-four hopes hit by superb Quins comeback Published3 hours agoArundell scores four as Bath cruise past Newcastle Published4 hours agoGloucester have had a season to forget but seemed to have turned a corner in recent weeks following back-to-back wins. Yet against Saracens they were largely off the pace, as they failed to score any points until the 70th minute.

Both teams had their share of possession and opportunities but where Gloucester were out of sync, Saracens were far more clinical. They turned Gloucester over from their own attacking line-out and pounced on the counter to open the scoring, as Burke broke through the line and linked up with Max Malins, who passed to Segun to go over. A Burke penalty made it 8-0 before Segun doubled his tally, pouncing onto a quick pass around the back of a line-out and then weaved with ease past Gloucester defenders.

There was a brief pause while referee Adam Leal went off with an Achilles injury and was replaced by George Selwood, before another three points from Burke nudged the score out further and momentum continued Saracens' way after the break. Earl stretched over under a tackle to make it 23-0 and Dan secured the crucial bonus point score on 52 minutes, charging over from a line-out and driving maul.

The story has climbed to the top of the sports agenda, with fans and analysts following closely.